Traditionally, users wishing to receive different wireless services (e.g., voice, pager, wireless email, etc.) would purchase and use different devices. However, there is a trend toward having a single communication device capable of receiving each of these communication services. Often, the different services are provided using the same protocol. A single device for receiving different communication services may be configured to receive any of the different services on the same set of receive paths in a single receiver chain. Conventional practice, therefore, is to design a radio transceiver targeted to support multimode services. In typical CDMA transceivers, for example, voice communications and data services are supported by a single receiver chain.
While operating requirements for the different services may vary, traditional receivers have often provided limited flexibility to adapt to the varying requirements. For example, channel bandwidth and amplification requirements can differ depending on whether the user is using the device for voice or high-speed data. This multiple use configuration may, for example, unnecessarily drain power from a device. Also, high-speed data operational requirements are different than voice, and an inflexible configuration designed to support both may have certain limitations when supporting high-data speeds.
Therefore, while it is desirable to provide a radio transceiver system that can be used for more than one type of communication service, supporting multiple communication services in a single receiver chain creates additional issues and design effects that need to be addressed. Different communication services operate at different bandwidths and communication rates. In addition, the available signal quality can vary significantly, and can impose very different receiver requirements. There is, therefore, a need for a flexible receiver architecture that can be dynamically reconfigured depending on the communication service to be provided and the environmental operating conditions.